LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Swiss engineering group ABB
said it would buy back $4 billion of shares, offering
a sweetener to investors after a series of problems at its power
systems unit and in the face of sluggish global growth.

Presenting his new strategy one year after taking the helm,
Chief Executive Ulrich Spiesshofer also trimmed the Zurich-based
firm's medium-term sales and profit forecasts to reflect the
fact slower economic growth has crimped capital spending.

Spiesshofer spent his first 12 months scrutinising ABB's
businesses, which range from industrial robots to power grid
transformers, and selling off divisions considered to be outside
the company's main areas of expertise.

The share buyback will run over two years and funnels some
of the fruits of Spiesshofer's portfolio "pruning" back to
investors, who have been unsettled by a series of charges
related to delays to offshore wind farm projects.
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